The London Report: Sterling rally pressures dollar earners
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The FTSE 100 slipped to its lowest close since April as sterling’s rally pressured dollar earners such as Burberry and WPP , and as an emerging markets sell-off held back the likes of Coca-Cola HBC .
Bookmaker William Hill advanced after revealing a tie-up with US casino operator Eldorado Resorts for online, mobile and retail sports betting.
“There have been rumours of corporate interest in a bid for William Hill,” said Peel Hunt. The Eldorado partnership “could help to crystallise any such interest if the bidder wanted to forestall the deal with Eldorado completing, expected in the first quarter 2019”, said the broker.
Redrow led a rally for the housebuilders after its full-year earnings beat expectations and came with a reiteration of 2020 targets, in spite of uncertainty about the government’s Help to Buy mortgage subsidy scheme.
Whitbread edged higher after Merrill Lynch upgraded the hospitality group to “neutral”. It forecast Whitbread to return between £2.5bn and £3bn of the proceeds from its Costa sale, with the rest recycled into expanding Premier Inn.
Profit-taking sunk Frontier Developments after the games maker left guidance unchanged and remained cagey about its product pipeline.
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